Chemically synthesized colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, also referred to as quantum dots, consist of 1–10 nm diameter inorganic semiconductor particles decorated with a layer of organic ligands. See, C. B. Murray et al., Annu. Rev. Mat. Sci., 2000, 30, 545–610, which is incorporated in its entirety. These zero-dimensional semiconductor structures show strong quantum confinement effects that can be harnessed in designing bottom-up chemical approaches to create complex heterostructures with electronic and optical properties that are tunable with the size of the nanocrystals. At the same time, as a result of the surrounding organic ligand shell, semiconductor nanocrystals can be chemically manipulated as large molecules.
Optical amplifiers utilize a gain medium to amplify optical radiation. In an amplifier, a source excites the gain medium to produce a population inversion between high and low energy states of the gain medium. The excited gain medium can amplify optical radiation at energies overlapping the energy differences between the high and low energy states of the population inversion because stimulated emission of radiation from the medium is more efficient than absorption of light. In general, a laser utilizes a cavity to supply feedback to an excited gain medium to cause amplified spontaneous emission. A laser cavity can include a series of optical components, such as mirrors, arranged relative to the gain medium to reflect radiation back into the cavity and thereby provide feedback. For example, a gain medium can be placed into a stable or unstable resonator. Conventional solid-state and gas lasers and amplifiers generally provide very specific spectral outputs depending upon the laser material. If a spectral output other than that achievable with available gain materials or a less specific spectral output is desired, dye lasers or tunable optical parametric oscillators (OPO) or amplifiers (OPA) can be used. Dye lasers are large and bulky and also require fluid components that can be toxic.